[BUG] /resume picker shows summarization prompt text instead of actual summaries for agent sessions
Description
The /resume picker displays the literal summarization system prompt text instead of actual conversation summaries for agent/warmup sessions:
Context: This summary will be shown in a list to help users and Claude choose which conversations are relevant. Please write a concise, factual summary of this conversation...
This repeats for many sessions in the list, making it impossible to identify conversations.
Screenshot / Example
❯ claude --resume
Context: This summary will be shown in a list to help users and Claude choose which conversations are relevant. Please write a concise, factual summary of this conversation. Output ONLY the summary -…
13 seconds ago · 2 messages · staging
Context: This summary will be shown in a list to help users and Claude choose which conversations are relevant. Please write a concise, factual summary of this conversation. Output ONLY the summary -…
17 seconds ago · 2 messages · staging
[repeats for 50+ entries]
Root Cause Analysis
Examining the session JSONL files shows the summarization prompt is embedded in the user message content rather than being a separate system operation:
{
"type": "user",
"message": {
"role": "user",
"content": [{
"type": "text",
"text": "Context: This summary will be shown in a list to help users...\n\nUser: Warmup\n\nAgent: I'm ready to help..."
}]
}
}
When /resume extracts the preview text from these sessions, it pulls this prompt text instead of meaningful content.
Steps to Reproduce
- Use Claude Code with features that spawn agents (Task tool with
subagent_type) - Generate multiple agent sessions (warmup sessions are created automatically)
- Run
claude --resumeor/resume - Observe many entries showing the summarization prompt instead of actual summaries
Expected Behavior
- Agent/warmup sessions should either:
- Not appear in the resume picker (filter by
isSidechain: true) - Have proper summaries extracted from the actual conversation content (after the warmup exchange)
- Have the summarization prompt excluded from conversation logging
Environment
- Claude Code version: 2.0.76
- Platform: Linux (Ubuntu)
- Architecture: x86_64
Additional Context
This appears related to but distinct from #10392 (Warmup message injection) which was fixed. The warmup mechanism itself may be working, but the summarization prompt is being logged as conversation content when it should be a system-level operation.
The issue accumulates over time as more agent sessions are created, eventually making the resume picker unusable due to the flood of identical "Context: This summary will be shown..." entries.
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